Acknowledgements

This report has been produced by the Mental Health Reform Branch of the Department of Health and Ageing. It uses information that could not have been presented without the cooperation of many people and organisations throughout Australia.Top of page
These include:

the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council National Mental Health Standing Committee Information Strategy Subcommittee, which oversees the data collection instruments and methodology

the management and staff of all specialised mental health services, who provided data for the National Minimum Data Set – Mental Health Establishments

the various mental health branches within each state and territory health department, in association with other relevant areas of their organisations that coordinated the annual data collections

the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which managed data validation of the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 collections of the National Minimum Data Set – Mental Health Establishments

Strategic Data Pty Ltd, which provided the technical services to enable data processing and web based validation of the National Minimum Data Set – Mental Health Establishments

the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which provided information on private psychiatric hospitals

Australian Government departments and the various areas of the Department of Health and Ageing that provided information on mental health initiatives and services

staff within the Medicare Statistics and Analysis Section, Medicare Benefits Branch and Pharmaceutical Access and Quality Branch of the Department of Health and Ageing, who provided the analyses of data relating to the Medicare Benefits Scheme and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, respectively and

Buckingham and Associates Pty Ltd, who assisted the Australian Government in data analysis and drafting of the report.

Whilst responsibility for conclusions drawn in this report is held by the Department of Health and Ageing, the contribution and assistance of all persons and organisations that contributed to its production are gratefully acknowledged.

Conventions used in this report

Several conventions are used to improve the readability of this report.

Financial years are occasionally abbreviated by referring to the last calendar year of the pair. For example, 2007-08 is abbreviated as 2008, the period 1992-93 to 1997-98 is abbreviated as 1993-98 and so forth.

Unless otherwise stated, all expenditure and revenue reported in the body of the report are expressed in constant 2008 prices. Tabulated expenditure data presented in the Appendices indicate specifically whether current or constant prices are used.

All population-based indicators are expressed as crude (non age standardised) rates.

Frequent reference is made to the terms: 'First National Mental Health Plan', 'Second National Mental Health Plan', 'Third National Mental Health Plan' and 'National Mental Health Strategy'. Occasionally, they are referred to, respectively, as the 'First Plan', 'Second Plan', 'Third Plan', and 'the National Strategy' or 'the Strategy'.

The Fourth National Mental Health Plan 2009-2014 is referred to as the 'Fourth Plan'.

Copyright statements

Paper-based publications

This work is copyright. You may reproduce the whole or part of this work in unaltered form for your own personal use or, if you are part of an organisation, for internal use within your organisation, but only if you or your organisation do not use the reproduction for any commercial purpose and retain this copyright notice and all disclaimer notices as part of that reproduction. Apart from rights to use as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 or allowed by this copyright notice, all other rights are reserved and you are not allowed to reproduce the whole or any part of this work in any way (electronic or otherwise) without first being given the specific written permission from the Commonwealth to do so. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights are to be sent to the Online, Services and External Relations Branch, Department of Health, GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, or by email to copyright.

Suggested citation for this report: Department of Health and Ageing (2010) National Mental Health Report 2010: Summary of 15 Years of reform in Australia's Mental Health Services under the National Mental Health Strategy 1993-2008. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.Top of page